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Show Find Last Will And Testament Of Thomas Turk Strange Message Is Peeked Info Back of Sawed-Off Tree Stump NNN s s V " Xl- i N" v V isA v s K -? j V ' -I f . - L s x - - ' TTTSt , Mai EDITOR'S NOTE: A strange farewell message recently was discovered dis-covered on an historic New England homestead. It had been pecked into the bark on the side of a sawed-off tree stump. Deciphered, it proved to be the last will and testament of one Thomas Turk. Lying beside the stump was a picture, supposedly of the author. The picture is reproduced above. The farewell message follows. j 5?JC T T TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN : I, Thomas Turk, being be-ing of sound mind but vastly worried state, peck this, my last will and testament, upon the side of a sawed-off j tree stump that bodes me no good. j The whirr of the grindstone is abroad in the land, and for my ears I am beginning to have grave fears. Life has been sweet to me in this peaceful valley. I have roamed far and have eaten my fill. Now they have come nigh unto me to gaze upon my flesh with an eye alight. But my wisdom has been greater than my vanity in this, for I have read into the eye they cast upon me a sinister meaning. My family is old, older than any family of these white people about me, for I was here before them, and was king in the land they now call theirs. So I leave to my heirs the memory of a grand old name, a name that has been associated with gratitude since 1668. I leave, too, the memory of uncounted millions of my own kinsmen who since that first dire November 23 have upheld well their dignity, on field and table, as the king of birds. There are those who reap the harvest, and there is the harvest to be reaped. Sacrifice attends it all ; the earth gives up its previous fruits; why should I balk at the martyr's crown that shall be mine? I am resigned. Let there be no moaning among my heirs and kinsfolk when mine enemies approach me with the sacrificed blade. Shall I deem myself better than Marie Antoinette, or any of those brave folk of old ? Shall I quake with fear when the sham ax gleams above me? Heaven forfend that I, Thomas Turk, scion of one of America's oldest families, quake at the hour of my fate. I am a turkev. I am proud of my past and my destiny. That is the most precious memory I find worthy to leave all other turkeys in the world in the years to come. The nobility" of birds has spoken. |